This was the spot of the World ARC we were very much looking forward to: coming close to the active volcano Mount Yasur, being the world’s most accessible active volcano in the world.

Coming ashore with our dinghy we were very welcomed by the village’s kids.

We were driven in a jeep by local guides meeting the kids coming back home from school.

Before visiting the volcano Mount Yasur we were to be welcomed by the village people in order to give us access to climb the volcano. For this we needed to identify from which part of the world we come from.

Mount Yasur

Now we are waiting for our welcome ceremony. The Chief of the village is waiting for us visitors to give him cava as a gift for his hospitality.

And so we experienced a traditional welcoming dancing in the Vanuatu way.

The men all dance in the middle while the women dance around them. The dance is very joyful. The men sing in their low voices while the women let out quite high voices, more like high yelling. Fascinating! The women hold hands and jump high at several occasions.

This lady at the right of the picture below jumping the highest seems to be the village’s grand old lady. She both jumped the highest and sang the loudest.

And here we have the men in the middle.

After the dancing we were given these flowers as a blessing to climb up Mount Yasur in a safe way.

Beautiful view over the other mountains in sunset.

We jumped into our jeeps looking forward to a bumpy road ride up the mountain.

All the other adults tried to put the kids into the safest place in the car, which is inside, but that did not go for Alex and Inez. So the ladies sat inside while the men and the kids were in the pickup behind.

Mount Yasur! We parked the cars and climbed the rest of the hill to the volcano

Mount Yasur in sunset.

Happy or scared kids?

Happy...

Listening to the volcano was like listening to the “voice of the earth”. The earth was talking to us, breathing the same time and from time to time letting out a “bang” that echoed in its mouth. Really fascinating!

It was quite windy and cold up here so our guide took Alex and Inez down to the cars. Sweet!

For every bang we heard we could feel the earth beneath us shaking… It was so peaceful to “listen” to Mother Earth.

When we only had a few minutes left before leaving we suddenly got the really big bang! Just like a Grande Finale at a firework. The lava flew high high high up in the air and our guides told us in a calm way to stand back as you don’t know where the lava will land...

… and it had landed only 10 meters from our path! Yes now it was time to go home.